High Photographic Modernism II

The Group f.64 championed the notion of "straight photography" - making prints that best expressed the technology of photography without additional artifice taken from painting and drawing. They thought that their techniques were objective, and they rejected the subjective quality of earlier photographic styles. The famous photographers in this group, which included Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, and others, tended to make images that were sharp, deep-focused, well-exposed, carefully framed, simply composed, and often used difficult and time-consuming darkroom techniques to bring out detail in the image. Being from San Francisco, California, USA, they often had Western US themes, showing a way of life that was being lost, as well as showing a land of inspiration and hope. They also photographed large public-work projects and the plight of workers during the Great Depression. However, images submitted to this challenge need not follow these themes.

Show full rules

Announced:

Tuesday, 11th September, 2012 (GMT)

Submissions:

Tuesday, 18th September, 2012 –
Monday, 24th September, 2012
(GMT)

Voting:

Tuesday, 25th September, 2012 –
Monday, 1st October, 2012
(GMT)

Processing rules:

- Image may be black and white or color.

- Adjust your image to have a full range of tones.

- The equivalent of dodging and burning is acceptable, as well as other local contrast enhancements. This must have a realistic look, without obvious halos.

- Especially if you downsize your image, you need to add sharpening. Make the image crisp and well-defined.

- Remove any barrel or pincushion distortion to produce a rectilinear image.

- Be careful that any noise reduction techniques do not remove too much detail, instead use low ISO and bright lighting to avoid noise.

- Your images must have infinite depth of field, and everything in the image must be in clear focus, so close down your aperture adequately and focus carefully. Diffraction may become a problem when you close down your lens, but this may be countered with sharpening during post-processing.

- The entire image needs to be sharp. Use a tripod or short shutter speed to ensure crispness, and avoid moving objects in your scene.

- Use simple composition. Try to show only one major object in your image and frame it carefully for emphasis. Avoid odd camera angles.

- No composite images (HDR acceptable if understated and not obvious).

- Avoid both overexposure and underexposure. Get good highlight and shadow detail: you will likely need to post-process to be sure your image has a good tonal range. Avoid large areas of pure black or pure white.

Your complaint (along with the complaints of others regarding this entry) will be
reviewed by the challenge owner. Depending upon the nature and applicability of the
complaint, the entry may be disqualified. In extreme circumstances the user who submitted
the entry may receive a ban from the challenge or series in question.